wpr
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21 days ago

Give the Green Bay Packers this much: They won against every single team they should have beaten last season.

The Packers faced 11 teams that finished outside of the top 10 in Jeff Sagarin's rankings, and went 10-1. They lost to the Chicago Bears in the regular-season finale as they sat starters in preparation for the playoffs, and it still took the Bears a last-second field goal to win. Winning every game (when giving normal effort) against non-elite teams is not easy. The NFL isn't college football. Every team is capable. You're not able to schedule Kent State in the NFL. The Packers beat every team they were expected to beat.

That's the good part. The bad part is the Packers did not record one quality win all season. They faced the 15-win Lions, 14-win Vikings and Super Bowl champion Eagles six times, including playoffs, and went 0-6. The best win the Packers had all season was against the Rams, who were good by the end of the season but were 1-4 after losing to Green Bay. That Rams team the Packers beat wasn't good in Week 5.



Much later he mentions the Packers didn’t play the starters against the Bears. It makes a huge difference but let’s ignore that when criticizing the team.

Beating every mediocre to bad team on the schedule and losing to every good team sums up the Packers' conundrum. They might have the deepest roster in the NFL after years of good drafts. But when you look at the top of the Packers' roster, there's a glaring lack of superstars. Among all the major All-Pro teams last season, only two Packers got recognition: right tackle Zach Tom, who just signed a mammoth extension, was a first-team pick only from Pro Football Focus, and safety Xavier McKinney was a consensus first-team selection. In 2023, the only Packer to get any All-Pro recognition was kick returner Keisean Nixon. Having a stellar safety and kickoff returner is great (Nixon said after the season he doesn't want to return kicks anymore, though he softened that stance a few months later), but that's generally not the nucleus of a Super Bowl team.

It's a very good team, but can it reach greatness without any true superstars?



Fielding a deep roster rather important. Unless you are drafting in the top 10 it’s difficult to select a Hall of Famer. At best you must hope someone drops to you. When you draft at 20-25 it’s even more difficult.

He also fails to mention most teams are not loaded with “Superstars”. What is so annoying is he is quick to complain about the packers but doesn’t give a list of other teams that are loaded with elite players. It simply doesn’t happen all that often. But Green Bay is a failure because they don’t have what nearly every single other team lacks as well. What I want to know is what is the magic number? 2 is too little. Do they need 3 or 4? The 1960’s Packers withstanding, most teams don’t have 5 or 6 Hall of Fame players on the same team for 3 or 4 seasons in a row.
Later in this article he mentions that Josh Jacobs was a top 3 RB by almost every metric. I guess that doesn’t qualify as being an elite or Superstar player. Instead of complaining they don’t have enough elite players why not use the space given to you to decry the injustice of the selection process? He mentioned Elgton Jenkins may be an All Pro now that he is at Center. He’s been a Pro Bowler a couple of times. He has potential to do so again. But he’s not a “Superstar” so it doesn’t count.

"The thing that's been on my mind as we concluded this season is we need to continue to ramp up our sense of urgency," Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said, via the team's site. "We've got a bunch of good guys in that locker room, we've got a bunch of talented guys in that locker room, and I think it's time we started competing for championships, right?"

When you have no real weakness, chasing championships is a realistic goal. The challenge is figuring out a way to elevate after the oddity of a fairly disappointing 11-win season.

The quickest path is if Jordan Love recaptures the form that he had late in the 2023 season, which helped him get a four-year, $220 million contract extension. Love wasn't bad last season. He just wasn't better than the previous season, leading to questions about his ceiling.



A young team that has depth with very few holes to fill is something that should be lauded. I am not sure if I would say the Packers have no real weaknesses but he did. The OL has to gel. There are questions with the receiving core. I am a little concerned with the DL and CBs but overall the team is better than most teams.

This was his first complaint about Jordan’s performance last year. No mention of his injuries. No suggestion that they might have been a factor. Not even a small one. It comes begrudgingly at the end. But “pay no attention to the injury behind the curtain. Jordan is horrible.”

The Packers can also point to their historic youth as a way for the roster to improve. Two years ago, the Packers were the youngest team based on weighted age (which takes into consideration how many games each player appeared in) to win a playoff game since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. Last season the Packers were again the youngest team in the NFL. None of the Packers' key players, other than 2024 addition McKinney, are considered to be the best at their position in the NFL, but being really good in your early 20s gives you a chance to be elite in your mid-20s. Maybe natural progression pushes the Packers to being contenders.

But the Packers come into this season in a weird spot. They're good. Really good. It's hard to win 11 games in the NFL. But are they Super Bowl good? That'll probably depend on whether their many good players can graduate to something better.



What? They are young and still one of the best teams in the league? How is that possible? They don’t have five 10 year vets that are first ballot Hall of Farmers. That is weird. And, and these youngsters are actually getting better? Impossible.

Offseason grade
The Packers grabbed two high-priced free agents. Guard Aaron Banks got a four-year, $77 million deal to leave the 49ers, and cornerback Nate Hobbs signed a four-year, $48 million deal to come over from the Raiders. The big departure, in terms of name value, was cornerback Jaire Alexander, who was cut after some rocky moments and many missed games in Green Bay the past couple seasons. The draft was interesting because the Packers, whose depth at receiver has been lauded, took a shot on speedy Texas receiver Matthew Golden with the 23rd pick. Perhaps Golden can be the alpha receiver Green Bay needs. The Packers also signed right tackle Zach Tom to a four-year extension at high-end market rate with a record-setting signing bonus. It was going to be hard for the Packers to top last offseason, when they nailed free-agent additions Josh Jacobs and Xavier McKinney, and the additions this year seem unlikely to move the needle much.

Grade: C



So let me get this straight. The have one of the most solid teams in the NFL. They have one of the deepest teams in the NFL but they didn’t load up with free agents in the offseason? HOW DARE THEY!! Pray tell Mr journalist if you can, who else should they acquired? Give me names if you please. They have some concerns on the OL. They picked up one of the best OG free agents. They move a Pro Bowl caliber OG to shore up a weakness they had at center. They drafted another OL to compete for a job. The 1st round pick last year is healthy and will compete for a job on the line too.

You mention JA as being this big named CB but fail to mention he isn’t the same player he was a few years ago. JA’s talent has decreased so much that he could only get a $4 million contract that has incentives that may bring it up to $6 million. That will make him to be somewhere between the 34th and 58th best CB in the league. More than likely with Hibbs in the slot and Valintine on the edge they will be a better team without JA. If he was actually on the field. He had his knee drained again. Shade of Bak here. I hope not for his sake but he is a wait and see candidate right now.
But let’s give them a C because they didn’t make a huge splash with a player not named at an unknown position.
A quick look at the top FA of 2025 per an ESPN writer:

Tae Adams WR Probably don’t need him. Sadly. They went younger and less expensive route.
Josh Sweat Edge Would be nice. Four-year, $76.4 million
Milton Williams DT A possibility to consider however four-year, $104 million is pricey.
Sam Darnold, QB Nope.
Mekhi Becton, G Not sure he is better than Aaron Banks. He has a 2 year, $20,000,000 contract
DJ Reed, CB There was talk. 3 year, $48,000,000 contract
Joey Bosa, Edge There are availability concerns with Bosa, as he has played only 28 games over the past three seasons because of injuries. He only got a a one-year, $12.6 million deal.
Aaron Rodgers, QB Here you go. This should have been the deal they made. /s
Stefon Diggs, WR nope.
Justin Fields, QB Oh snap. We missed out on Justin to be Love’s backup.

I almost forgot to comment on the WR draft complaint. This has to be one of the funniest comments made about the Packers over the past 10 years. Pundits and fans have screamed about the Packers not taking a WR in the 1st round. Now they did and this guy is saying it wasn’t really necessary. More than likely Watson will not be available to begin the season. After he is on the field it will still take time. Ignore the drop issues the Packers had last year. Ignore the fact that several of the receivers may not be on the team next year. Let’s only look 6 inches in front of our noses.
Another comment. They have had years of good drafts. Yet none of it factors into their off season moves. Strange.


Quarterback report
Jordan Love wasn't bad last season, though some offseason narratives would lead you to believe he was. He was mostly just OK. His raw numbers fell a bit. Part of that was missing two games due to injury. But numbers like completion percentage, yards per game and interception rate were worse. His touchdown rate was up, as was yards per attempt. Passer rating was barely better, inching from 96.1 to 96.7. It wasn't a bad season for Love, but a stagnation.

Curiously, the Packers became one of the run-heaviest teams in the NFL. They were 30th in pass rate over expectation (PROE) after being 10th in 2023. Love's attempts per games fell significantly, from 34.1 to 28.3. Green Bay got a very good season out of running back Josh Jacobs, but the shift was odd for a team that had just paid its quarterback $55 million per year.

This offseason the Packers have been sensitive about the notion that Love regressed.

“What is a step back, is what I’d ask,” Love said. “Everybody has different opinions, things like that. You’ve got to block that stuff out. It’s all about the goals of the team. At the end of the day, I’d say we won more games than we did the year before. So that’s why I ask people, what is a step back?”



Second time complaining about Jordan. How can you say he regressed without mentioning his injuries? Also how can you say stagnation when he showed improvement is some categories while playing injured?


BetMGM odds breakdown
From Yahoo’s Ben Fawkes: “The Packers have had a win total between 8.5 and 11.5 in every season since 2010, so an over/under of 9.5 at BetMGM for this season is nothing new. Green Bay is favored in its first eight games (five of them under a field goal, though) and 13 games overall, and is a slight favorite (-135) to make the postseason. The defense loses Jaire Alexander, but adds Nate Hobbs at corner, and has five projected starters who were first-round draft picks. Green Bay has gone over its win total in five of the past six seasons."

Yahoo’s fantasy take
From Yahoo’s Scott Pianowski: "There is always talent in the Green Bay receiver room. But do the Packers want to lean into a featured receiver? That hasn't been the case in recent years. No Green Bay pass-catcher has gone past 100 targets since Davante Adams left town. Until I see usage changes from Matt LaFleur — a play-designer I respect, by the way — I can't draft any of these wideouts proactively, though I don't mind the current market price on splash-play tight end Tucker Kraft."



The question I have is how many teams out preformed their gambling odds win projection 5 out of the past 6 seasons? I am sure not many of them did. Better still is how many wins did every team have over the past 6 seasons? I am sure GB is towards the top. Even so none of it matters in 2025 so why talk about it?

Stat to remember
The Packers signed Josh Jacobs to a four-year, $48 million deal last offseason, and it was a risk. Jacobs was awesome in 2022 as he got All-Pro honors for the Raiders, but plummeted in 2023 after a long contract standoff. The Packers were right. Jacobs had 1,329 rushing yards and became the focal point of Green Bay's offense. The advanced stats loved him too. His Pro Football Focus grade was third best among running backs. He had 1,113 yards after contact via PFF, behind only Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry. He was fifth in rush yards over expectation, via Next Gen Stats. Jacobs, who also had 15 rushing touchdowns, was fantastic. Jacobs is 27 years old and while running backs can hit the wall at any time, there's no good reason to believe he's about to slow down. The Packers should be able to rely on him for at least another season.



So here, finally is something to talk about. Jacobs is ELITE even if he was not recognized as such.

Burning question
Will the Packers defense maintain the momentum?
Fans aren't always right when they yell about firing a coach. But Packers fans seemed to have been spot-on about wanting to move on from defensive coordinator Joe Barry after the 2023 season. Many wanted him gone after 2022 too. The Packers finally changed defensive coordinators last year, luring Jeff Hafley from his job as head coach at Boston College to run their defense. And the Packers' defense had a significant improvement under Hafley, finishing in the NFL's top six in points and yards allowed. In Barry's final two seasons with Green Bay, a defense with a lot of first-round talent was 17th each season in yards allowed and was generally unimpressive. The Packers were 27th in defensive DVOA in 2023 and seventh last season.

There isn't a good reason to believe the Packers' defense will regress much. There's only one new projected starter and that's expensive free-agent addition Nate Hobbs. He'll replace Jaire Alexander, who was undoubtedly talented but missed a lot of games and had turned into a distraction. The Packers' projected starting defensive lineup has five first-round picks, three second-round picks and had a nice improvement last season. It should be in the top 10 again.



This is such a stupid question. There is no reason to believe they will regress but let’s pretend they might. JA is out. More than likely the defense will be as good or better. Looking at the defense shows how little importance there is in counting the noses of elite players and deciding if the team is good or not. As a whole the defense was pretty darn good. They have another year in the system. Most of the players have not reached their peak yet. While not mentioned the same can be said for the offence. They will be better this year.


Jordan Love suffered a sprained MCL in his left knee late in the Packers' opener. It's fair to wonder if that injury, and a midseason groin injury, affected his play all season. Over the last half of the 2023 season, Love looked like a future star. That's why the Packers made him, at the time, the highest-paid player in NFL history. Love hasn't had a long stretch of elite play, but he has shown it. Maybe Love, with Matthew Golden added to a pass-catching unit that includes Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs and Tucker Kraft, stays healthy and plays to that elite level he flashed two seasons ago. The Packers won 11 games with Love being good but not great last season. That's how Green Bay could overcome the Lions and everyone else in the NFC North to win the NFL's best division. And if the Packers are good enough to win the NFC North, they'd be good enough to make the Super Bowl.



Ah. Here we go. Finally mentioning Love played last year with an injury. He still doesn’t suggest it affected him game in and game out. Did he not see hoe Jordan favored his leg the first game back after his MCL injury? Naw that is not relevant for this fairytale story.

Nightmare scenario
It's not impossible to win a championship without an elite player. The 2007 Giants had just one Pro Bowler, defensive end Osi Umenyiora, though it also had Hall of Famer Michael Strahan. It was also an outlier champion that wasn't dominant in any particular area. The 2020 Buccaneers had just one Pro Bowler, which was defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, but also multiple future Hall of Famers including Tom Brady (that's right, JPP made the Pro Bowl while Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Tristan Wirfs, Ndamukong Suh, Lavonte David, Antoine Winfield Jr., Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown didn't ... OK, back to this Packers preview). Usually Super Bowl champions have a few dominant players and most have at least one future Hall of Famer. It's hard to see any Packer ascending to an All-Pro level other than safety Xavier McKinney repeating (linebackers Quay Walker or Edgerrin Cooper maybe? Offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins finally making it?), but there's also no weakness on the roster. The Packers are probably going to win double-digit games again. Their floor is extremely high. But would another playoff season without any quality wins satisfy anyone?


Things can happen to any team. GB might lay an egg. There are plenty of examples of teams that did not live up to their expectations.

The crystal ball says
The Packers are a team that is the sum of its parts. It's hard to say that a team with as many above-average starters as the Packers have isn't a Super Bowl contender, and if everything goes right — including Jordan Love playing like he did to end 2023 — Green Bay can win a championship. But something has to change from last season, when the Packers were very good but didn't record one quality win. Until that happens, it feels like the Packers will remain stuck in a tier below the true Super Bowl contenders. It's not the worst spot to be, but it might be difficult to figure out a way to move up one more level.


As long as they are healthy, they should contend once again for the SB. I have nothing else to add.
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bboystyle
17 days ago
Were winning the SB, book it
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    beast (8-Aug) : But the Return from IR designations had to be applied by the 53 man cutdown.
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